Chiemsee Railway
| Chiemsee Railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Route number : | 9571 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Course book section (DB) : | 10602 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 1.91 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1000 mm ( meter gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maximum slope : | 2.5 ‰ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minimum radius : | 60 m | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top speed: | 20 km / h | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Chiemsee-Bahn is a 1.91 km long narrow-gauge railway in Bavaria . The meter-gauge line has been connecting the Prien am Chiemsee train station with the Prien-Stock district since 1887 , and there is a direct transition to the Chiemsee shipping at the pier there .
As a special feature, it is sometimes operated with steam in the main season . The Chiemseebahn is licensed as a local railway and therefore runs according to the Railway Construction and Operating Regulations for Narrow Gauge Railways (ESBO), it has its own track structure with Vignole rails throughout .
history
prehistory
After the Chiemgau and especially the Chiemsee recorded an increasing increase in tourism in the middle of the 19th century, the necessary infrastructure was quickly created. This included in particular the establishment of the Chiemsee shipping company in 1845 and the Prien a Chiemsee train station on the Rosenheim – Salzburg railway that opened in 1860 .
When Ludwig II died in 1886, his successor, Prince Regent Luitpold, stopped construction on Herrenchiemsee Palace and opened the magnificent building to the public. As a result, the Herreninsel in particular recorded a real rush of visitors, but the lovelier Fraueninsel and the restaurants located there already attracted many tourists back then.
The Royal Bavarian State Railways brought visitors from Munich , Rosenheim and Salzburg to Prien. The port, which is just under two kilometers away, could be reached from the Prien train station with a service organized by the local population, which consisted of carriages and carts. This created considerable traffic chaos in the narrow village; these conditions were previously only known from the “big city”.
Opening of the railway
Shortly after the first big run on the Herreninsel, the shipping operator Ludwig Feßler and the Kommerzienrat Georg Krauss from Munich applied for the construction of a narrow-gauge local railway from the Prien station to the Dampfersteg in Stock in 1886. Planning and execution took place at a remarkable pace for the time. Construction work began on May 2, 1887, the sleepers had already been laid on June 21, and work began on nailing the rails. The official opening of the railway took place on July 9, 1887 after less than 70 days of construction. The very next day, a Sunday, it went into official operation.
Attitude discussion
The train would no longer be necessary for passenger transport, as there is a large parking lot for passenger cars and buses at the steamboat landing stage in Prien-Stock. Because of this, and because the railway was not always profitable, the call for cessation of operations was often loud. In the 1970s and 1980s in particular, hoteliers and boarding houses complained about the noise from trains. However, the monument protection that had existed since 1980 prevented the cessation of operations.
Today's meaning
Thanks to its nostalgic charm, the Chiemsee-Bahn is still very popular today. For many visitors, traveling back in time is like traveling back in time to 1887. Even though most tourists today travel by car, many use the train for a short pleasure trip.
operator
Until July 5, 1965, the railway was operated by the Chiemseebahn Fessler & Companie Prien . The company was dissolved at that time and incorporated into Chiemsee-Schifffahrt Ludwig Feßler KG . In December 1980 the Chiemsee Railway was placed under monument protection by the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments. On June 4, 1986, the Bavarian state extended the operating license for another 50 years until June 4, 2036.
route
Including the sidings, a route of around 2200 meters was built in 1887 . Overall, the railway manages with just seven switches, all of which are manually switched. The track structure is designed for an axle load of 7.5 tons.
Until 1908, Prien station was on the station forecourt on the west side. Therefore, the Chiemsee Railway had to cross the track of the standard-gauge state railway to reach the lake to the east. The dangerous crossing was secured with two stop signals for the narrow-gauge railway. The unfavorable route was finally changed for safety reasons in the winter of 1908/1909 and the local railway station was moved to the east side of the station. Since then, the railway has only crossed one main street and several smaller side streets. Since the re-routing, the pure driving distance has been 1910 meters, there are no intermediate stops. The depot and the railway workshop are located right next to the terminus Prien-Stock, where the repair and maintenance work takes place.
The train station and the Prien-Stock jetty have been extensively renewed and rebuilt since the beginning of the millennium. After the old ship halls and docks, the now dilapidated station with workshop and depot was demolished and replaced by a new building a little further away from the lake. The historical building ensemble is now finally lost. The old depot was demolished in April 2011. At the same time, a new branch with two switches to the new depot was built.
business
The journey time is around eight minutes, which corresponds to an average speed of 14.325 km / h . It is traditionally driven with only one train set, so there are no evasions . A scheduled train service is currently only operated in the summer season from the end of May to the end of September. During this time run daily 9:30 to 18:23 ten pairs of trains . The free travel for the severely disabled is recognized here as on certain sections of the boat trip.
Freight traffic was also carried out until the mid-1950s: coal for the steamships and supplies for the Chiemsee islands were transported.
vehicles
steam train
In the main season (July, August) of the Chiemsee-Bahn, the box locomotive with the serial number 1813, built in 1887 by the Krauss Lokomotivenfabrik, Munich + Linz , is used. This machine with the axle formula B n2t was commissioned for 12,500 gold marks at the time, two identical machines with the serial numbers 1814 and 1818 were also delivered to the Ravensburg-Weingarten local railway shortly afterwards . Major overhaul took place in 1937 when a new firebox made of copper are fitted had. A replacement boiler (manufacturer Arnold Jung Lokomotivfabrik , Kirchen (Sieg) ) was due in the winter of 1957/1958. This conversion brought the locomotive an increase in output from 60 to 100 hp (44 to 74 kW). When the steam locomotive was still the only machine, it consumed around 25 tons of coal annually on a little more than 2,200 regular and special trips.
1887: the disguised steam locomotive of the Chiemsee-Bahn in its original condition
The steam locomotive as it is today
Water is refilled
The steam locomotive in Prien-Stock shortly before departure
Steam and diesel locomotives before the conversion, on the left the steam locomotive
Diesel locomotive of the Chiemseebahn after the renovation
Diesel locomotive
In addition to the steam locomotive, there has also been a diesel locomotive since 1982 . This is a KG 125 BS machine built in 1962 with the serial number 57499. For use on the Chiemsee Railway in 1982, the exterior was adapted to the steam locomotive in order to preserve the historical ambience. The locomotive was manufactured by Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz AG for the Halbergerhütte and also serves as a replacement for the main locomotive, for example if more complex maintenance or repair work has to be carried out on it. Since in the preseason there is only driving on the weekends, it is only used during this time. The reason for this is that the brief heating up of the steam locomotive for weekend operation with subsequent re-cooling leads to thermal stresses in the boiler, which in turn can cause leaky boiler tubes. In the winter of 2015/2016, the diesel locomotive was completely restored and technically overhauled, giving it an appearance loosely based on its original condition, which no longer looks like an imitation of the steam locomotive.
dare
The train is assembled from original cars from 1887 and 1888 as required. There are a total of nine two-axle wagons, they were all manufactured by MAN , are each 8,400 millimeters long over buffers and are sometimes used all at once:
| dare | design type | 1st class places | 2nd class places | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | closed | 24 | - | so-called saloon car |
| 2 | half open | - | 32 | |
| 3 | half open | - | 32 | |
| 4th | half open | - | 32 | |
| 5 | half open | - | 32 | |
| 6th | half open | - | 32 | |
| 7th | closed | - | 32 | |
| 8th | closed | - | 32 | |
| 9 | closed | 8th | 16 | with luggage room |
1st class saloon car
One of two closed 2nd class cars
The closed car 9 with 1st and 2nd class seats and a luggage compartment
Open platform of a 2nd class car
The saloon car (car 1) was owned by the Marxzell Vehicle Museum near Karlsruhe from 1975 to 1993 . After it was bought back, it was restored for two years and has been in operation again since April 29, 1995. There used to be two freight cars , but they were scrapped around 1966 (car 1) and 1987 (car 2). However, the axes of the latter still exist. A freight wagon has existed again since 2014.
The term Bockerlbahn
The Chiemsee-Bahn is also called Bockerl Bahn by many tourists, but also by locals . In the Bavarian dialect , this term stands for a small train. For example, this term is also used for the former Torfstecherbahn in Kendlmühlfilzn , a few kilometers away .
literature
- Marcus Hehl: The Chiemsee-Bahn , Ek-Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 1997, ISBN 3882558067
- Horst J. Obermayer: 100 years of the Chiemsee Railway . In: Lok-Magazin . No. 143 . Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, W. Keller & Co. , 1987, ISSN 0458-1822 , p. 91-99 .
- Gerd Wolff: German small and private railways; Part 7: Bayern , Ek-Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 2002, ISBN 3882556668
Web links
- The Chiemsee-Bahn on the Chiemsee-Schifffahrt website
- The Chiemsee-Bahn on www.schmalspur-europa.at
- The Chiemsee-Bahn on www.eisenbahn-europa.de
- Picture gallery of the Chiemsee-Bahn on www.railfaneurope.net
- The Chiemsee-Bahn in the timetable from 1944
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.oepnv-info.de/freifahrt/informationen/bayern/eisenbahnunternehmen-bayern/chiemseebahn
- ↑ https://www.oepnv-info.de/freifahrt/informationen/bayern/faehren-bayern/chiemseeschifffahrt
- ^ Wolff, Gerd: The private railways in the Federal Republic of Germany, Freiburg / Br. 1984, p. 428
- ↑ http://www.schmalspur-europa.at/schmalsp_19.htm
Coordinates: 47 ° 51 '38.9 " N , 12 ° 21' 55.9" E
